********SPOILER ALERT********
If you haven't watched this week's episode of "Breaking Bad" you really shouldn't read any further. This recap is bursting at the seams with spoilers. I know, you're shaking like Skinny Pete after a week off of the blue, but you really should show a little restraint and watch the episode before reading this recap. You have been warned.
This week's penultimate episode of "Breaking Bad" reinforced the one lesson that the series has tried to teach its viewers the entire time; never underestimate life's ability for things to get worse.
In the last two episode's Jesse Pinkman has been through unspeakable horror. After a cathartic moment that lasted but a minute or two when Hank slapped the bracelets on Walt Jesse has been living In a Hell that ups the stakes for suffering on an almost hourly basis. Walt makes the call for him to die but Jesse is rescued by the more sadistic Todd. Walt breaks what might be left of Jesse's heart by telling him the truth about Jane and then Jesse finds himself living in a cage beat to a pulp and forced to cook meth.
When Jesse is first in the lab where he is being held prisoner there is a shot of him crying at the sight of the photograph of Andrea and her son; foreshadowing that something bad was on deck for the innocent Andrea since Vince Gilligan and company have never wasted a shot in the five seasons of the show.
The senselessness of Andrea's death, and the ease with which Todd killed her, made her death resonate in a way that so many of the others in the show have not. Much like the boy on the dirt bike that Todd shot Andrea was an innocent but what made her death so much more painful was that two lives were ruined by her demise; Brock is now an orphan.
The duality of Todd is one of the more fascinating aspects of the last couple of episodes. It's almost unthinkable that the same person who awkwardly picks lint off of Lydia's sweater while they were at the café and who brings ice cream to Jesse is the same person who has murdered completely innocent people with a smirk.
The psychopath barely hidden under Todd's normal demeanor is what makes him far more frightening than any of the hardened gangsters in the show. When Walt and Jesse crossed Krazy-8, Tuco and the Cousins it was obvious that there might be dire consequences. Even Gus had a menacing presence about him. It is this combined with the complete lack of any conscience that makes Todd such a fearsome character.
The casting of Robert Forster as the man who makes people disappear was an unexpected bit of brilliance. Forster played the role perfectly. It was clear that he wanted to make help Walt out to some degree; New Mexico and New Hampshire is quite a haul and I'm sure getting hold of chemo drugs was no easy effort. Saving all of the Albuquerque papers was a nice touch as well. Yet, even when he showed a bit of kindness it was evident that if the money wasn't there Forster's character (who isn't named in the episode) would have gladly left Walt to rot in that cabin.
This highlights the hopelessness of Walt's situation. All of the money that he raised for his family can't be used for the reason he wants; to provide his family a comfortable existence once the cancer has gotten the best of him. Instead, it's only real use is to draw out the inevitable and miserable demise ahead of Walt.
If Andrea's death didn't completely break your heart the phone call between Walt and his son did the job. Walt is desperate and knows that the money he has made for his family, the money that he sacrificed everything to obtain, is the only thing he has to offer them so when Walt Jr. turns it down it may have finally been the last straw for Walt. As horrible as Walt has been it is impossible not to feel sympathy for him as his son screams for his death.
As Walt was at rock bottom waiting for the police he called to come and finally arrest him the long forgotten Gretchen and Elliot Schwartz showed up on the television to talk about their connection to the wanted fugitive Walter White. Suddenly viewers were reminded of what has driven Walt all along, his ego.
It became completely evident that despite the cancer, the meth and every criminal activity he has partaken in over the slightly less than two years since the story began (in the show's timeline) the one thing that has motivated him the entire time is the failure to stick around with Gray Matter. While he could have been hailed as a genius by the whole world and made millions Walt chose to start a family that now despises him and pursue a career that left him with nothing. Of course those two would end up being the spark that ignited the fuse that will lead to the explosion that will be the final episode.
Sunday night's episode will run extra-long and we're guessing that viewers will be on the edge of their seat for the entire episode. What do you think might happen in the finale? Who, if anyone, is going to make it out alive? Tell us what you think in the comments and don't forget to join us next week as we recap the finale.
